Country star Jason Aldean will rocket into the AT&T Center Thursday with a boost from his latest album and his sixth consecutive No. 1 single, the driving country rocker “Take a Little Ride.”

The five others — including the first triple-platinum digital single by a male country artist, “Dirt Road Anthem” — are from “My Kinda Party,” the reigning Country Music Association and Billboard album of the year that sold almost 3 million copies.

It was the top-selling country album of 2011 and No. 5 in all genres.

Released last week, “Night Train” also hit No. 1 on Billboard's country albums chart on a wave of rave reviews. The CD continues Aldean's knack for knowing how to push the boundaries of the genre with echoes of 1980s arena rock, wailing guitars, pop power ballads and a touch of rap mixed in with contemporary country.

“One thing I've never wanted is for my records to sound like every other male act that's on the radio,” Aldean told Billboard magazine. “I don't hear anybody's record and say, ‘Man, I want my record to sound like that.'

“I want my record to sound like me, what it sounds like when I'm on stage. The best way to do that is have my guys playing. The session players in Nashville are some of the best players in the world, but they don't always play what I want to hear.”

Also on the bill at the AT&T Center for Aldean's My Kinda Party tour, which has sold out venues across the nation, are country record mixer Dee Jay Silver and Luke Bryan, who with Eric Church lends vocals to Aldean's “The Only Way I Know,” a celebration of the American work ethic, on “Night Train.”

Bryan's No. 1 singles include “Drunk on You” and “I Don't Want This Night to End.”

Aldean garnered three nominations for the Nov. 1 Country Music Association Awards — entertainer, male vocalist and single of the year, for “Dirt Road Anthem.” He also is nominated for seven American Country Awards on Dec. 10.

He burst onto the scene in 2005 with the single “Hicktown.” More hits followed, including “She's Country,” “Johnny Cash,” “Fly Over States” and “Tattoos on This Town.”

Earlier this month, Aldean made some not-so-welcome headlines after the celebrity gossip website www.tmz.com published photos of him cozying up to and kissing Brittany Kerr, an “American Idol” contestant and cheerleader for the Charlotte Bobcats, at a club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

“Hey Guys — I wanted to talk to you directly, so you were hearing the truth from me and not just reading allegations about my personal life on gossip websites,” Aldean wrote on Twitter.

“The truth is that I screwed up. I had too much to drink, let the party get out of hand and acted inappropriately at a bar. I left alone, caught the bus to our next show and that's the end of the story. I ultimately ended up embarrassing my family and myself.”

“The main thing is that me and my family are OK, and everything's good there,” Aldean told CMT Insider.

Aldean, 35, married high school sweetheart Jessica Ussery in 2001. They have two daughters, Keeley, 9, and Kendyl, 5.

Another photo of him may cause a stir, too — especially with hunters.

A cover shot for the December issue of Deer & Deer Hunting magazine, www.deeranddeerhunting.com, shows him in face paint and camouflage posing with a massive 10-point buck with two kickers with a headline proclaiming, “I'm a Deer Hunter!”

In the article, Aldean says he grew up in Georgia hunting with his father and grandfather and stopped when he was about 14 after his grandfather died.

He picked it up again and became passionate after going hunting with Atlanta Braves first baseman Adam LaRoche, who was starting “Buck Commander” on the Outdoor Channel.

Now he is part of the TV show and schedules concert tours around its taping schedule.

“It gets crazy sometimes, but it works out,” he said in the Deer & Deer Hunting article, which also touches on his music career. “Every night to walk on stage, play an amphitheater and 20,000 people are there. It's not too hard to think back when I was playing little bars with 250 people in them.

“It's definitely one thing I'm proud of and proud about how far we've come.”

John Goodspeed is a freelance writer. Email him at john@johngoodspeed.com.